April 22, 2025 • 27 mins
Money often causes tension in relationships, but it doesn't have to. Nate and Bethany Smith share their expertise on creating financial harmony through better communication, understanding each other's money stories, and developing shared goals.
• Understanding your partner's "money story" helps build empathy and reduces financial conflict
• Creating a "spending and savings plan" feels more empowering than a restrictive budget
• Pay yourself first by prioritizing savings before other expenses
• Rule of 72 shows how your money doubles (divide 72 by your interest rate)
• Teaching kids early money habits and the time value of money sets them up for success
• Changing your environment (walks, weekend getaways) creates better financial conversations
• Awareness of where money goes and having a plan prevents financial stress
• Having a vision for your future makes daily money decisions easier
• Understanding the psychology behind money decisions is as important as the math
Contact Nate and Bethany at @yourcashflowcouple on Instagram or visit howmoneyworks.com/NateSmith or howmoneyworks.com/BethanySmith to book a free consultation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Secrets of Happily Ever
After podcast.
I'm your host, monica Tanner,and I'm super excited to be
sitting down with some friendstoday.
They are Nate and Bethany Smithand they are experts on money
and I feel like I am not anexpert on money.
My husband's really good withmoney and whenever he tries to
(00:20):
talk to me about it I kind ofzone out a little bit and that's
how we make money work in ourrelationship.
But I know that it's a problemfor a lot of couples and so I
wanted to have Nate and Bethanyon to just talk about maybe some
like important money points,how to kind of work out
differences around money, andthen what are some really
(00:40):
important things to be startingto talk about your kids, about
money, so that they don't runinto similar problems when they
are older.
So why don't you guys tell us alittle bit about yourself, how
you got started working withmoney, and we'll just go from
there.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Thank you for having us today, Monica.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yes, my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Awesome, yeah, thank you so much.
Our backstory so we come to apretty diverse background.
I was in the military for 18years, I'm still in part-time,
and so that's related.
You know created a life ofmoving a lot.
We moved 11 times in the last15 years.
We've been married 15 years andwe've tried a lot of different
things trying to figure out themoney game.
When we first I first joined themilitary as enlisted income
(01:25):
wasn't great and we were freshlymarried we were like trying to
figure out how to have extramoney at the end of the month to
do some cool things and thingslike that and experiences.
And we just kind of created thiscuriosity and so we pursued a
lot of different ventures, a lotof different side hustles, just
trying to make more money.
But one thing we realized wasjust making more money wasn't
(01:49):
enough.
It's understanding what to dowith the money that you're
making that really makes thebiggest difference.
And so you just kind of led uson this journey of trying to
figure it out on our own.
And then we ran into ourcompany five and a half years
ago that their whole mission isteaching, education, education
on how money works and it helpedus a ton and understanding the
other things after you make it,and we felt like we could also
(02:10):
take on that role and become aneducator and also empower and
help other individuals andcouples and families be able to
better understand their moneyand how it works and so they can
put themselves in a betterposition financially in the
future.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So yep, yeah, I love that.
I think probably one of thebiggest issues couples have
around money is being able tocommunicate when one wants to
save and one wants to spend.
Do you have any like advice orlike you know kind of tricks on
(02:42):
how to kind of decide like howmuch money to save versus you
know what is kind of spendableincome?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I think the first step in key really is just
awareness and having the open,honest communication that hey,
let's get on the same page andno blame, shame or guilt, but
let's just have an open, honestconversation about where each of
us is at.
You know, like for he and I,we're both savers and spenders
in kind of different areas, ifthat makes sense.
Like not one of us is acomplete spender in one area and
(03:12):
a complete saver, you know, inthe other.
But really it's kind of havingthat awareness like the first
thing that was so powerful forus in going through the process
initially of coming on boardwith our company and basically
going through what we call afree financial needs analysis.
I found it so eye-opening and alittle uncomfortable but also
really empowering to just havethe awareness about what's
(03:35):
coming in and then what's goingout and what are we doing with
it and are we being overchargedin some areas?
Are we really frivolouslyspending in other areas, like we
often see dining out?
That's been a big one for us inthe past to really keep a
handle and a hold of and we finda lot of couples struggles with
that.
But it could be anything, itcould be.
Pet expenses are way higherthan they really should be and
(03:56):
things like that.
So really just coming to anawareness and having a
willingness to work together,not assign blame, shame or guilt
or judgment, but really justhaving that open, honest
conversation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, definitely.
I think it just starts withcommunication, having also
communicating about what's thevision for the life you're
trying to create as well,because if you have an idea of
the end in mind or kind of whereyou're trying to go, what
you're trying to create, that'salso going to help a lot of the
decisions that you're makingabout you know whether you're a
saver, you're a spender.
Try to get on the same page,trying to find that middle
ground over.
Okay, we can save, we can save,but we can also spend and kind
(04:30):
of figure out where that's at.
But if you have a vision forthe future, I think it also
helps both of you get on thesame page as far as what you
need to do, because ultimately,to create that better future,
going your money and if youspend it all, you won't be able
to build a future.
So I think those are some keystarting points.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay, well, I have a confession to make.
We have never had a budget, sowe've both just.
You know, like when we havediscussions about money, it's
like, okay, we're doing okayhere, or we need to spend less
here, or whatever.
But we neither of us have ever,like had to stick to a budget.
(05:07):
And I feel very blessedactually, because normally if I
need money for something, it'sthere.
But what do you recommend asfar as a budget?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah.
So I I don't really I don't.
I personally like to call it abudget, I like to call it a
spending plan and a savings plan.
A plan just having a plan foryour money is really what it
comes down to, but basicallyit's just understanding where
your money's going.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe a sit like a super detailed,
written down, step-by-stepbudget.
(05:38):
It could just be a general okay, we're committed to saving this
much and whatever's left overwe can do whatever we want with.
So just kind of figure out whatworks for you.
But the biggest thing is you gotto make sure that you're not
running out of money everysingle month and that you are
putting money away for thethings that are important.
I think that's the mostimportant thing overall.
Obviously, if you're livingpaycheck to paycheck and things
(05:59):
are tight, then you're going toneed to take that discipline to
really have a budget.
But then once you start makingmore money and you can start
building up you know thosereserves, emergency funds and
start you know all those typesof things same for the future
Maybe you can start getting awayfrom the rigid budget and just
more of a general plan ofactions.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
We're really big proponents of paying yourself
first and so definitely makingsure that that amount of money
like you said, having that plan,having that future vision and
goal for your family, forhousehold, so being on the same
page about that and making surethat basically comes off the top
so that you're contributing tothat, first and foremost.
And then also another big,important expense for a lot of
households, including ours, istithe or charitable
(06:37):
contributions.
You know, making sure that nextis the you know the next thing,
and then from there having theother categories, kind of like
everything he mentioned.
You know the next thing, andthen from there having the other
categories, kind of likeeverything he mentioned.
You know, having a plan forthem, having a plan for every
dollar.
And then one tool that we liketo use personally is an app
called Rocket Money, and we justsuggest, whether it's an app or
a Google spreadsheet or anenvelope system like, find
(06:59):
whatever works for you thatyou'll actually use continually
and consistently and that iseasy for maybe both partners to
view and have a handle on and beable to use.
It's pointless if you're notactually going to use it.
And so finding something thatworks well for you, for us
personally, we like the appRocket Money, and it also tells
you when subscriptions go up,which is really, and so yeah, Do
(07:23):
you have like a recommendationfor you know, like, how do you
recommend that couples separatetheir money?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
like, do you like having like a his, hers and our
account, or do you, like youknow, just saying like, okay,
here's an amount of money thatyou get every month that you
don't have to be accountable for, or how do you kind of make
sure that there's the good mixof saving but also like not
feeling so tight?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, I think that's definitely come down to the
individual couple and how theywant to work that out.
But ultimately, obviously,having that conversation kind of
working out, for us personally,everything's mixed.
We don't have like separateaccounts for each other.
We don't have like separate,you know, quote, don't have like
separate, you know, quote,unquote.
You know you can spend thismuch, you can spend this much.
We've kind of, for us personally, we've just had a lot of those,
a lot of conversations, a lotof discussions and and about
(08:14):
what we want to do with money,why it's important no-transcript
, separate.
You know individual accountsfor hey, I get this account, I
(08:36):
go on with it.
Then we have this middleaccount, that's for us together,
you know.
So I think it comes down toreally just what's going to work
best for you.
But then, but again, it goesback to communication and having
that conversation and reallydiving into you know what do we
want to do, how do we want tomanage our money?
But having a plan to manageyour money is key, because if we
don't have a plan for it, it'sgoing to go somewhere, money
flows, it does not stay stagnant.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
And so it's either going to flow towards things
that is important or the worldof society is going to get it,
because that's the world we livein.
Yeah, and I think the opencommunication again is so is so
key because, like what we'vefound and what we've learned
over the years um, some, some,some uncomfortable experiences
um, is to have the opencommunication as to hey, now we
have kind of the rule that ifone of us is going to want to
spend over $500 for any onething, we really need to have an
open conversation about thatbefore you spring for it.
But if it's, you know, otherkind of, you know, does that any
(09:33):
other types of expenses underthat dollar amount, then we
really don't worry about it.
But for more significant things, having that open conversation
about hey, here's where I wantto make this purchase, here's
why, you know, and for us, a lotof that comes into, since we
work together, we have abusiness together, business
investments, you know, thosethings can be kind of high
ticket sometimes and so reallyeven more so, having that
(09:56):
understanding and being on thesame page, it's not just your
average everyday householdexpense we found it'd be really
helpful, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, so if you have a couple who's, like you know I
didn't really learn that muchabout money growing up Like I
would love to learn how to savemoney and like have it for
retirement and things like that,what resources do you recommend
that people start just kind ofgetting an idea of how much, how
much they should be savingevery month?
Great question.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Great question.
So a couple of resources werecommend are resources that our
company has produced.
We've created our company'swritten a series of books called
how Money Works.
They've written onespecifically for women as you
have a copy of that one.
That one's great.
It's a lot of case study storiesof women in different,
specifically to differentsituations that women deal with
when it comes to money.
(10:44):
We have a more general book,just how Money Works for
everybody, and it kind of goesthrough all the key concepts and
fundamentals and a process thatwe take all of our clients
through, called the 7 MoneyMilestones, which are milestones
along the journey to creatingthat financial security, that
foundation, and then workingtowards saving and building
money for the future forindependents.
And then we have a new book thatjust came out I know you were
(11:05):
talking earlier about kids andhow do you do with your kids.
We actually just came out witha new book called how Many Works
for the Next Generation, whichis specifically targeted towards
high schoolers and those whoare trying to go into the
workforce all the way into yourmid-30s, and it covers all the
same concepts and fundamentalsof the first book but also talks
about all the firsts, likebuying your first car, buying
your first house and all ofthose things like managing money
(11:27):
as a couple, like first timeyou're together as a couple,
like what are some things theretoo?
So those are some resourcesthat we usually start people
with and really goodfoundational place to start,
because it covers pretty mucheverything that we should learn
in school.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I like to say these books are the books that you
wish you had when you either inhigh school or in college,
before you became you know, wentout in the adult world and yeah
, and I would say, and the otherthing is really understanding
and calculating what we callyour financial independence
number, and so we can certainlyhelp with this through a free
consultation that we offer.
But basically understandingwhat is that end goal, what is
(12:01):
that retirement number or, ifyou don't like that, that word
retirement what would make uswork optional, you know, what
would give us our freedom atsome point in life, you know.
And so really understandingwhat that number is and then
what's the you know rate ofreturn that we'd be able to get
on the investments and thatgrowth to get there.
So what do we need?
Kind of reverse engineeringthat plan so we know what's the
(12:23):
today amount that we need to besaving on a consistent basis to
be able to reach that goal.
Just like if you get in your carand you want to go to a store,
you need to know the address ofthat store if you've never been
there before.
Otherwise you're just kind ofmeandering and wasting a lot of
time and gas and energy andresources.
So you really need to know whatis the end goal, how does
what's the destination and howdo we get there the most
efficient way possible.
(12:43):
And then getting on the samepage about that.
So it's really not a struggleevery month to oh, we need to
save this much.
Well, I, you know I don't agree, like you're really, but you're
very clear and you have thatclarity to be able to
consistently save that amount ofmoney every month or quarterly
or whatever you decide on.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, I love that term work optional, because
retirement sounds very old, butyou could be like shooting for a
work optional age.
I like that a lot, yeah.
So my next question is likeit's interesting because I feel
like my parents taught me a lotabout money.
Like I feel like my dad taughtme about credit and, you know,
(13:21):
being on the right side ofinterest and those types of
things.
So I feel like I did a reallygood job young when I in our
young married life, managing our, our credit cards and things
like that, until we starteddealing with big sums of money
of which I had no idea what washappening.
And my husband now just you knowhe'll say number to me and I'm
like that's too big for me tolike understand.
(13:42):
But what do you recommend westart teaching our kids so that
they're prepared?
Like I think of things like howare they going to know like how
much money they can spend amonth for a mortgage and like
things like that.
Like I, I have adult childrenand I don't remember teaching
them those things.
So like what do you recommendwe start with when we're talking
to our kids about money?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah, great question.
I think some of the things Iwould look at is first is
understanding the basics of abudget and understanding what
you have and what you have towork with.
Don't live below your means,don't don't overextend yourself.
It's so easy nowadays.
I mean, as soon as we come outof high school, we start getting
credit card offers.
You know, if we don't, you know, a lot of times we go to
college, we take on student loan, debt that we carry for
(14:26):
sometimes decades, debt that wecarry for sometimes decades.
And so, under reallyunderstanding the debt side of
things and it was reallyimportant and also asking the
question is where am I gettingthe information from?
Who's delivering this?
Quote unquote financialeducation Like, for example, I
don't want to pick on lenderstoo much, but they're going to
tell you not what you can affordbased on your budget, but what
(14:47):
you can afford based on yourcredit, which can be way
overextending yourself.
So really taking the time tounderstand what can you afford
and what do you feel comfortablewith, it's not going to
overextend yourself and putyourself in a good position.
And the other thing that Ireally love to teach young
people really anybody, butespecially young people is
understanding the time value ofmoney, because if you can start
saving when you're right out ofhigh school, the amount of money
(15:10):
you just save to hit your goalsis so much less than, if you
like, live it up in your 20s,spend it all and then try to
become an adult at 30.
And then start saving.
You have to save so much moremoney to hit the same goal.
And so we show a lot of peoplejust a basic example of you know
, if you start your 20s, howmuch more money you have by
quote unquote retirement age,versus if you wait till you're
(15:31):
30 to start saving, and it's asignificant difference.
And so that's the one I reallylike to teach young people is
just understanding theimportance of saving early and
taking advantage of compoundinterest and how time is your
most valuable asset for buildingwealth.
And so if you can start young,that's key.
And for parents, I alwaysencourage them, even if it's a
small amount, try to getsomething started for your kids
(15:52):
if you can afford it whenthey're young.
We set up a plan for my niecewhen she was two weeks old.
The time value she's going tohave on what her parents are
doing for her my brother and hiswife is amazing because she's
starting at zero.
But those are some of thefundamentals that I like to
really hone into people.
And then I guess the last thingI would say is just kind of
(16:14):
crafting that vision for thefuture and thinking about you
know, do you want to have afamily someday, what is your
career going to look like?
What are your goals?
And starting making decisionsthat give you options in the
future, because if you don't, alot of people get stuck in a job
they hate or stuck in asituation they don't like
(16:34):
because they don't have anyother choices, because they
weren't smart with theirfinances early on.
So those are some things.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
And Rule of 72.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, rule of 72, that's an easy, that's a simple
formula we teach people is justunderstanding you mentioned
earlier be on the right side ofinterest.
Rule 72 just illustrates howwell your money is doubling
based on the interest rate thatit's earning or that you're
paying.
So if you're paying a highinterest on, like credit card
debt, how fast are they doublingtheir money versus how much?
How fast is your money doublingbased on the accounts you're
(17:01):
putting it in is another youknow simple math formula we
teach people, which is basically72 divided by the rate of
return equals the years of valueof money.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, and I think it's really important to
make smart decisions.
You know, like, think aboutyour future self.
I know it's hard for youngpeople to do that, but my son
has done a really good job of inhigh school he was putting
money away and like alreadystarting to invest a little bit
of it and you know, he's kind ofreaped the rewards now, which
(17:36):
is really cool.
But you know, my husband workedwith a ton of you know his own
employees when we owned our ownbusiness and they would drive
really nice cars and have reallynice phones and like they
really didn't need all of thosethings for anything.
But they are living paycheck topaycheck and so you could just,
you know, downgrade your phonea little bit, get a little bit
less nice car, and then you'redoing yourself a favor for later
(17:59):
, because then you're going tohave all of that money
compounding and interest ifyou're saving it versus just
spending it on things that arenot that important.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, a lot of times it's if we, if we go after those
expensive things early, we areputting ourselves in a position
to basically never really beable to afford anything super
nice in the future because we'resacrificing.
We're going to sacrifice thefuture for now versus
sacrificing now for the futureand just showing people hey, if
you get your money working foryou now, like you mentioned,
have a pay up, have a car youcan pay for in cash or don't
(18:32):
constantly upgrade your phone soyou're constantly having those
payments, get that money workingfor you and then in the future
you can probably afford anythingthat you want to a certain
extent.
But now you have options.
I can afford to buy the nicercar because I've I'm paying it
with the interest of my moneyhas been earning versus you know
, just yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And that can be a hard shift.
I mean, it's a littlecountercultural, because you
have so many different sourcesand everything on social media
that's about the now and theflash.
And the debt is easy to get,you know, and another credit
card is easy to get, and if youcan have it now, why wait?
And when you have thatonslaught of marketing and
everything, it's hard to kind oftake a step back and be like,
oh no, I want, I want this, Ireally truly want this in the
(19:12):
future.
And prioritizing that we talk alot about, like saving, is sexy
and yeah, it's like becausetrying to just change that
narrative of like you know andmaybe I think it might have been
accentuated even more so withCOVID I feel like people just
were so like, well, we may notbe here tomorrow, so let's enjoy
(19:32):
today.
You know, eat, drink and marry,for tomorrow we die, like we
kind of hear that mentalitysometimes and so it's like, well
, yeah, but you know, you reallydo want to prioritize for not
only yourself but your family'sfuture and your legacy beyond
that, to prioritize certainthings.
And if you just plan for it andhave, you know, have that plan,
it doesn't have to be a painfulprocess.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, and I know my husband's always like we're not
leaving our kids anything.
They have to earn their ownstuff.
So we don't want them dependingon any type of inheritance from
us or anything, because we justdon't want them to get lazy in
that way.
But one of the things I dothink is so important and I talk
to my couples about this andthis is important in any aspect
of your marriage, but especiallyin your money.
(20:16):
People have money stories thatthey start when they're young,
whether it's that your parentstell you money doesn't grow on
trees, or you know we're poor,we don't have enough, or you
know, whatever it is, it's soimportant to be curious about
how the things that you feelreally strongly about and the
things that your spouse feelsreally strongly about, and so I
(20:38):
always recommend go on avacation and it doesn't have to
be fancy or expensive like go ona camping trip or go hiking
together or something, and getreally curious.
Like ask your spouse like when'sthe first time you knew, like
you had an inkling of how muchmoney you had in comparison to
your neighbors, or somethinglike that.
(20:59):
Or you know what's a really bigmoney lesson that your parents
either did or didn't teach youthat had an effect on you or
things like that.
And so you start to understandyour partner and their decisions
and you know kind of theirtriggers better when you get
really curious about how theygrew up and what they were
taught around money and how theykind of develop the ideas and
(21:22):
opinions that they hold so dear,and then you can have more
respect and honor better yourpartner.
Like I laugh, so I mean mywhole family laughs, because my
husband is very he feels verystrongly about the lights, right
, like he will get so upset ifyou leave a room and you don't
(21:42):
turn out the lights, right, Imean he'll just like it's like a
personal attack on him ifyou're not turning on the lights
.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Right, and we even have solar now and he's still
like don't leave that room, youknow, and not turn out the
lights or he'll come home andit'd be like I turned off four
lights when I got here, so funny.
But my husband grew up with alot less means than we did and
he has got a lot of storiesabout he and his siblings
(22:11):
sharing candy bars on a Saturdayand, you know, wearing the
goodwill clothes and his parentsnot taking handouts and things
like that.
So he has a very differentupbringing than I did, and so I
appreciate the fact that hevalues money, that he's good at
saving money.
He's also very good at makingmoney and so he's been able to
(22:32):
provide very well for our familybecause he works very hard.
But he's also a saver and soyou know, there were times in my
marriage where I'm like diggingin my heels, like you're not
going to die with your money.
Why are you being such a miser?
But I have grown to appreciatethat about him and I understand
it so much better now that Iknow his stories and his
(22:54):
upbringing and kind of where hecame from, so so important.
So I feel like I just got on asoapbox there.
But do you guys have anythingto add on that?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Definitely Money is such a psychological thing.
First, like, the numbers areblack and white, it's math,
right and so.
But the why behind it goes backto, like you just mentioned,
how were we raised?
What were, how did our parentstreat money?
How did they talk about moneyor not talk about money?
That drives a lot of how youwill do that as an adult and so,
(23:26):
and when you bring that into arelationship, a marriage, you
know two totally differentupbringings.
Like you know, that could besimilar.
There's going to be very a lotof differences.
And so having that openconversation, I think it's so
important as well as, yeah, wecan talk about you know how much
money I should save, how much Imake, all the black and white
spreadsheet stuff.
But if that doesn't matter, ifyou don't understand why you're
(23:55):
making the decisions that you'remaking and what's the emotional
uh pull behind that, and havingthat communication, having
those conversations, is reallywhat's going to help you work
through those things.
I know for us, you know,whether it's money or just
anything related to ourrelationship, early on
especially, we had lots ofdiscussions and lots of
questions about things and wedid it in a very like she said
no shame, blame or guilt.
We're just trying to get toknow each other, trying to
understand how each other thinkand why you respond this way
versus I respond this way, andso money, especially, is a very
(24:19):
key area to have thoseconversations, so definitely.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, and it's so fun to talk about money, but it's
kind of necessary.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I love what you said, monica, about like encouraging
couples, and how you doencourage couples to like get
away and change your environment, even just changing going for a
walk and talking about it.
I know you had a recent youknow podcast and talk about.
You know going on walks and howbeneficial that is.
But I feel like changing yourstate change.
You know incorporating movement, going on a weekend getaway and
(24:48):
and even having like a we'vedone this many times like a
vision for our life talk youknow what does that look like
and it's so easy, so much easierto do that when you're in a
different location, differentenvironment, and you have that
kind of relaxation you knowelement to to it.
So that's, that's huge.
I love that.
You encourage that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah.
So I think if there's like onetakeaway I could take from this
whole episode, I would say do alittle bit of like a mental
inventory and figure out, likehow are we doing with money as
far as like not like we haveenough money or whatever like
that.
But you know, do we understandeach other's philosophies behind
money and do we know what we'redoing with our money?
(25:26):
Do we have a plan for our money, kind of like you explained?
And if not, if you don't havelike these regular conversations
, regular planning meetingsabout your money, go on a
vacation or go on a walk andreally like figure it out, like
make a commitment to be like youknow we should probably get a
handle on this so that we're nothaving so many charged
(25:48):
conversations or fights aroundthis and just really like, let's
get on the same side and worktogether to make our money work
for us.
So let the listeners know howthey can get a hold of you, how
they can get you know the thefree resources that you talk
about and a free consultationfor their seven step thing or
(26:10):
whatever that you guys Sevenmoney milestones.
Seven money milestones.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, probably the easiest place to find us is just
at your cashflow couple onInstagram.
That'd be the best first placeif you want to learn more about
us just as a couple and there bea good place to start.
And then a website,howmoneyworkscom forward slash.
Nate Smith or Bethany Smith weboth have websites there.
That's a great place to go.
You can learn more about ourbooks and there's a lot of great
(26:34):
information education, likewhat are the seven money
milestones A lot of goodinformation there.
There's also options to book anappointment with us from that
website as well.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, we never charge for a consultation.
So sometimes just havingsomeone to talk to and getting
that map, getting that plan out,can be so helpful and so
beneficial.
I know it was for us almost sixyears ago now.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Awesome.
Well, thank you guys, so muchfor your time today and all your
expertise.
Any last words of wisdom forour couples who are interested
in money.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
No, just no.
Thank you so much, monica, forthe opportunity to share our
story and share some of thisinsight.
Biggest thing is just talkabout money opportunity to share
our story and share some ofthis insight.
Biggest thing is just just talkabout money and start talking
about it and uh, and, and thencreate and talk about it from a
point of what's, what's thevision we want to create for our
life and what do we want to doin the future.
Um, great place to start andhave those conversations about
where'd you come from, what,what do we, how, why do we think
(27:23):
, why do we think?
You get on the same page.
I think it's so valuable.
Hello and welcome to the Secrets of Happily Ever
After podcast.
I'm your host, monica Tanner,and I'm super excited to be
sitting down with some friendstoday.
They are Nate and Bethany Smithand they are experts on money
and I feel like I am not anexpert on money.
My husband's really good withmoney and whenever he tries to
(00:20):
talk to me about it I kind ofzone out a little bit and that's
how we make money work in ourrelationship.
But I know that it's a problemfor a lot of couples and so I
wanted to have Nate and Bethanyon to just talk about maybe some
like important money points,how to kind of work out
differences around money, andthen what are some really
(00:40):
important things to be startingto talk about your kids, about
money, so that they don't runinto similar problems when they
are older.
So why don't you guys tell us alittle bit about yourself, how
you got started working withmoney, and we'll just go from
there.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Thank you for having us today, Monica.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yes, my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Awesome, yeah, thank you so much.
Our backstory so we come to apretty diverse background.
I was in the military for 18years, I'm still in part-time,
and so that's related.
You know created a life ofmoving a lot.
We moved 11 times in the last15 years.
We've been married 15 years andwe've tried a lot of different
things trying to figure out themoney game.
When we first I first joined themilitary as enlisted income
(01:25):
wasn't great and we were freshlymarried we were like trying to
figure out how to have extramoney at the end of the month to
do some cool things and thingslike that and experiences.
And we just kind of created thiscuriosity and so we pursued a
lot of different ventures, a lotof different side hustles, just
trying to make more money.
But one thing we realized wasjust making more money wasn't
(01:49):
enough.
It's understanding what to dowith the money that you're
making that really makes thebiggest difference.
And so you just kind of led uson this journey of trying to
figure it out on our own.
And then we ran into ourcompany five and a half years
ago that their whole mission isteaching, education, education
on how money works and it helpedus a ton and understanding the
other things after you make it,and we felt like we could also
(02:10):
take on that role and become aneducator and also empower and
help other individuals andcouples and families be able to
better understand their moneyand how it works and so they can
put themselves in a betterposition financially in the
future.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So yep, yeah, I love that.
I think probably one of thebiggest issues couples have
around money is being able tocommunicate when one wants to
save and one wants to spend.
Do you have any like advice orlike you know kind of tricks on
(02:42):
how to kind of decide like howmuch money to save versus you
know what is kind of spendableincome?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I think the first step in key really is just
awareness and having the open,honest communication that hey,
let's get on the same page andno blame, shame or guilt, but
let's just have an open, honestconversation about where each of
us is at.
You know, like for he and I,we're both savers and spenders
in kind of different areas, ifthat makes sense.
Like not one of us is acomplete spender in one area and
(03:12):
a complete saver, you know, inthe other.
But really it's kind of havingthat awareness like the first
thing that was so powerful forus in going through the process
initially of coming on boardwith our company and basically
going through what we call afree financial needs analysis.
I found it so eye-opening and alittle uncomfortable but also
really empowering to just havethe awareness about what's
(03:35):
coming in and then what's goingout and what are we doing with
it and are we being overchargedin some areas?
Are we really frivolouslyspending in other areas, like we
often see dining out?
That's been a big one for us inthe past to really keep a
handle and a hold of and we finda lot of couples struggles with
that.
But it could be anything, itcould be.
Pet expenses are way higherthan they really should be and
(03:56):
things like that.
So really just coming to anawareness and having a
willingness to work together,not assign blame, shame or guilt
or judgment, but really justhaving that open, honest
conversation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, definitely.
I think it just starts withcommunication, having also
communicating about what's thevision for the life you're
trying to create as well,because if you have an idea of
the end in mind or kind of whereyou're trying to go, what
you're trying to create, that'salso going to help a lot of the
decisions that you're makingabout you know whether you're a
saver, you're a spender.
Try to get on the same page,trying to find that middle
ground over.
Okay, we can save, we can save,but we can also spend and kind
(04:30):
of figure out where that's at.
But if you have a vision forthe future, I think it also
helps both of you get on thesame page as far as what you
need to do, because ultimately,to create that better future,
going your money and if youspend it all, you won't be able
to build a future.
So I think those are some keystarting points.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay, well, I have a confession to make.
We have never had a budget, sowe've both just.
You know, like when we havediscussions about money, it's
like, okay, we're doing okayhere, or we need to spend less
here, or whatever.
But we neither of us have ever,like had to stick to a budget.
(05:07):
And I feel very blessedactually, because normally if I
need money for something, it'sthere.
But what do you recommend asfar as a budget?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah.
So I I don't really I don't.
I personally like to call it abudget, I like to call it a
spending plan and a savings plan.
A plan just having a plan foryour money is really what it
comes down to, but basicallyit's just understanding where
your money's going.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe a sit like a super detailed,
written down, step-by-stepbudget.
(05:38):
It could just be a general okay, we're committed to saving this
much and whatever's left overwe can do whatever we want with.
So just kind of figure out whatworks for you.
But the biggest thing is you gotto make sure that you're not
running out of money everysingle month and that you are
putting money away for thethings that are important.
I think that's the mostimportant thing overall.
Obviously, if you're livingpaycheck to paycheck and things
(05:59):
are tight, then you're going toneed to take that discipline to
really have a budget.
But then once you start makingmore money and you can start
building up you know thosereserves, emergency funds and
start you know all those typesof things same for the future
Maybe you can start getting awayfrom the rigid budget and just
more of a general plan ofactions.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
We're really big proponents of paying yourself
first and so definitely makingsure that that amount of money
like you said, having that plan,having that future vision and
goal for your family, forhousehold, so being on the same
page about that and making surethat basically comes off the top
so that you're contributing tothat, first and foremost.
And then also another big,important expense for a lot of
households, including ours, istithe or charitable
(06:37):
contributions.
You know, making sure that nextis the you know the next thing,
and then from there having theother categories, kind of like
everything he mentioned.
You know the next thing, andthen from there having the other
categories, kind of likeeverything he mentioned.
You know, having a plan forthem, having a plan for every
dollar.
And then one tool that we liketo use personally is an app
called Rocket Money, and we justsuggest, whether it's an app or
a Google spreadsheet or anenvelope system like, find
(06:59):
whatever works for you thatyou'll actually use continually
and consistently and that iseasy for maybe both partners to
view and have a handle on and beable to use.
It's pointless if you're notactually going to use it.
And so finding something thatworks well for you, for us
personally, we like the appRocket Money, and it also tells
you when subscriptions go up,which is really, and so yeah, Do
(07:23):
you have like a recommendationfor you know, like, how do you
recommend that couples separatetheir money?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
like, do you like having like a his, hers and our
account, or do you, like youknow, just saying like, okay,
here's an amount of money thatyou get every month that you
don't have to be accountable for, or how do you kind of make
sure that there's the good mixof saving but also like not
feeling so tight?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, I think that's definitely come down to the
individual couple and how theywant to work that out.
But ultimately, obviously,having that conversation kind of
working out, for us personally,everything's mixed.
We don't have like separateaccounts for each other.
We don't have like separate,you know, quote, don't have like
separate, you know, quote,unquote.
You know you can spend thismuch, you can spend this much.
We've kind of, for us personally, we've just had a lot of those,
a lot of conversations, a lotof discussions and and about
(08:14):
what we want to do with money,why it's important no-transcript
, separate.
You know individual accountsfor hey, I get this account, I
(08:36):
go on with it.
Then we have this middleaccount, that's for us together,
you know.
So I think it comes down toreally just what's going to work
best for you.
But then, but again, it goesback to communication and having
that conversation and reallydiving into you know what do we
want to do, how do we want tomanage our money?
But having a plan to manageyour money is key, because if we
don't have a plan for it, it'sgoing to go somewhere, money
flows, it does not stay stagnant.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
And so it's either going to flow towards things
that is important or the worldof society is going to get it,
because that's the world we livein.
Yeah, and I think the opencommunication again is so is so
key because, like what we'vefound and what we've learned
over the years um, some, some,some uncomfortable experiences
um, is to have the opencommunication as to hey, now we
have kind of the rule that ifone of us is going to want to
spend over $500 for any onething, we really need to have an
open conversation about thatbefore you spring for it.
But if it's, you know, otherkind of, you know, does that any
(09:33):
other types of expenses underthat dollar amount, then we
really don't worry about it.
But for more significant things, having that open conversation
about hey, here's where I wantto make this purchase, here's
why, you know, and for us, a lotof that comes into, since we
work together, we have abusiness together, business
investments, you know, thosethings can be kind of high
ticket sometimes and so reallyeven more so, having that
(09:56):
understanding and being on thesame page, it's not just your
average everyday householdexpense we found it'd be really
helpful, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, so if you have a couple who's, like you know I
didn't really learn that muchabout money growing up Like I
would love to learn how to savemoney and like have it for
retirement and things like that,what resources do you recommend
that people start just kind ofgetting an idea of how much, how
much they should be savingevery month?
Great question.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Great question.
So a couple of resources werecommend are resources that our
company has produced.
We've created our company'swritten a series of books called
how Money Works.
They've written onespecifically for women as you
have a copy of that one.
That one's great.
It's a lot of case study storiesof women in different,
specifically to differentsituations that women deal with
when it comes to money.
(10:44):
We have a more general book,just how Money Works for
everybody, and it kind of goesthrough all the key concepts and
fundamentals and a process thatwe take all of our clients
through, called the 7 MoneyMilestones, which are milestones
along the journey to creatingthat financial security, that
foundation, and then workingtowards saving and building
money for the future forindependents.
And then we have a new book thatjust came out I know you were
(11:05):
talking earlier about kids andhow do you do with your kids.
We actually just came out witha new book called how Many Works
for the Next Generation, whichis specifically targeted towards
high schoolers and those whoare trying to go into the
workforce all the way into yourmid-30s, and it covers all the
same concepts and fundamentalsof the first book but also talks
about all the firsts, likebuying your first car, buying
your first house and all ofthose things like managing money
(11:27):
as a couple, like first timeyou're together as a couple,
like what are some things theretoo?
So those are some resourcesthat we usually start people
with and really goodfoundational place to start,
because it covers pretty mucheverything that we should learn
in school.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I like to say these books are the books that you
wish you had when you either inhigh school or in college,
before you became you know, wentout in the adult world and yeah
, and I would say, and the otherthing is really understanding
and calculating what we callyour financial independence
number, and so we can certainlyhelp with this through a free
consultation that we offer.
But basically understandingwhat is that end goal, what is
(12:01):
that retirement number or, ifyou don't like that, that word
retirement what would make uswork optional, you know, what
would give us our freedom atsome point in life, you know.
And so really understandingwhat that number is and then
what's the you know rate ofreturn that we'd be able to get
on the investments and thatgrowth to get there.
So what do we need?
Kind of reverse engineeringthat plan so we know what's the
(12:23):
today amount that we need to besaving on a consistent basis to
be able to reach that goal.
Just like if you get in your carand you want to go to a store,
you need to know the address ofthat store if you've never been
there before.
Otherwise you're just kind ofmeandering and wasting a lot of
time and gas and energy andresources.
So you really need to know whatis the end goal, how does
what's the destination and howdo we get there the most
efficient way possible.
(12:43):
And then getting on the samepage about that.
So it's really not a struggleevery month to oh, we need to
save this much.
Well, I, you know I don't agree, like you're really, but you're
very clear and you have thatclarity to be able to
consistently save that amount ofmoney every month or quarterly
or whatever you decide on.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, I love that term work optional, because
retirement sounds very old, butyou could be like shooting for a
work optional age.
I like that a lot, yeah.
So my next question is likeit's interesting because I feel
like my parents taught me a lotabout money.
Like I feel like my dad taughtme about credit and, you know,
(13:21):
being on the right side ofinterest and those types of
things.
So I feel like I did a reallygood job young when I in our
young married life, managing our, our credit cards and things
like that, until we starteddealing with big sums of money
of which I had no idea what washappening.
And my husband now just you knowhe'll say number to me and I'm
like that's too big for me tolike understand.
(13:42):
But what do you recommend westart teaching our kids so that
they're prepared?
Like I think of things like howare they going to know like how
much money they can spend amonth for a mortgage and like
things like that.
Like I, I have adult childrenand I don't remember teaching
them those things.
So like what do you recommendwe start with when we're talking
to our kids about money?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah, great question.
I think some of the things Iwould look at is first is
understanding the basics of abudget and understanding what
you have and what you have towork with.
Don't live below your means,don't don't overextend yourself.
It's so easy nowadays.
I mean, as soon as we come outof high school, we start getting
credit card offers.
You know, if we don't, you know, a lot of times we go to
college, we take on student loan, debt that we carry for
(14:26):
sometimes decades, debt that wecarry for sometimes decades.
And so, under reallyunderstanding the debt side of
things and it was reallyimportant and also asking the
question is where am I gettingthe information from?
Who's delivering this?
Quote unquote financialeducation Like, for example, I
don't want to pick on lenderstoo much, but they're going to
tell you not what you can affordbased on your budget, but what
(14:47):
you can afford based on yourcredit, which can be way
overextending yourself.
So really taking the time tounderstand what can you afford
and what do you feel comfortablewith, it's not going to
overextend yourself and putyourself in a good position.
And the other thing that Ireally love to teach young
people really anybody, butespecially young people is
understanding the time value ofmoney, because if you can start
saving when you're right out ofhigh school, the amount of money
(15:10):
you just save to hit your goalsis so much less than, if you
like, live it up in your 20s,spend it all and then try to
become an adult at 30.
And then start saving.
You have to save so much moremoney to hit the same goal.
And so we show a lot of peoplejust a basic example of you know
, if you start your 20s, howmuch more money you have by
quote unquote retirement age,versus if you wait till you're
(15:31):
30 to start saving, and it's asignificant difference.
And so that's the one I reallylike to teach young people is
just understanding theimportance of saving early and
taking advantage of compoundinterest and how time is your
most valuable asset for buildingwealth.
And so if you can start young,that's key.
And for parents, I alwaysencourage them, even if it's a
small amount, try to getsomething started for your kids
(15:52):
if you can afford it whenthey're young.
We set up a plan for my niecewhen she was two weeks old.
The time value she's going tohave on what her parents are
doing for her my brother and hiswife is amazing because she's
starting at zero.
But those are some of thefundamentals that I like to
really hone into people.
And then I guess the last thingI would say is just kind of
(16:14):
crafting that vision for thefuture and thinking about you
know, do you want to have afamily someday, what is your
career going to look like?
What are your goals?
And starting making decisionsthat give you options in the
future, because if you don't, alot of people get stuck in a job
they hate or stuck in asituation they don't like
(16:34):
because they don't have anyother choices, because they
weren't smart with theirfinances early on.
So those are some things.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
And Rule of 72.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, rule of 72, that's an easy, that's a simple
formula we teach people is justunderstanding you mentioned
earlier be on the right side ofinterest.
Rule 72 just illustrates howwell your money is doubling
based on the interest rate thatit's earning or that you're
paying.
So if you're paying a highinterest on, like credit card
debt, how fast are they doublingtheir money versus how much?
How fast is your money doublingbased on the accounts you're
(17:01):
putting it in is another youknow simple math formula we
teach people, which is basically72 divided by the rate of
return equals the years of valueof money.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, and I think it's really important to
make smart decisions.
You know, like, think aboutyour future self.
I know it's hard for youngpeople to do that, but my son
has done a really good job of inhigh school he was putting
money away and like alreadystarting to invest a little bit
of it and you know, he's kind ofreaped the rewards now, which
(17:36):
is really cool.
But you know, my husband workedwith a ton of you know his own
employees when we owned our ownbusiness and they would drive
really nice cars and have reallynice phones and like they
really didn't need all of thosethings for anything.
But they are living paycheck topaycheck and so you could just,
you know, downgrade your phonea little bit, get a little bit
less nice car, and then you'redoing yourself a favor for later
(17:59):
, because then you're going tohave all of that money
compounding and interest ifyou're saving it versus just
spending it on things that arenot that important.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, a lot of times it's if we, if we go after those
expensive things early, we areputting ourselves in a position
to basically never really beable to afford anything super
nice in the future because we'resacrificing.
We're going to sacrifice thefuture for now versus
sacrificing now for the futureand just showing people hey, if
you get your money working foryou now, like you mentioned,
have a pay up, have a car youcan pay for in cash or don't
(18:32):
constantly upgrade your phone soyou're constantly having those
payments, get that money workingfor you and then in the future
you can probably afford anythingthat you want to a certain
extent.
But now you have options.
I can afford to buy the nicercar because I've I'm paying it
with the interest of my moneyhas been earning versus you know
, just yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And that can be a hard shift.
I mean, it's a littlecountercultural, because you
have so many different sourcesand everything on social media
that's about the now and theflash.
And the debt is easy to get,you know, and another credit
card is easy to get, and if youcan have it now, why wait?
And when you have thatonslaught of marketing and
everything, it's hard to kind oftake a step back and be like,
oh no, I want, I want this, Ireally truly want this in the
(19:12):
future.
And prioritizing that we talk alot about, like saving, is sexy
and yeah, it's like becausetrying to just change that
narrative of like you know andmaybe I think it might have been
accentuated even more so withCOVID I feel like people just
were so like, well, we may notbe here tomorrow, so let's enjoy
(19:32):
today.
You know, eat, drink and marry,for tomorrow we die, like we
kind of hear that mentalitysometimes and so it's like, well
, yeah, but you know, you reallydo want to prioritize for not
only yourself but your family'sfuture and your legacy beyond
that, to prioritize certainthings.
And if you just plan for it andhave, you know, have that plan,
it doesn't have to be a painfulprocess.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, and I know my husband's always like we're not
leaving our kids anything.
They have to earn their ownstuff.
So we don't want them dependingon any type of inheritance from
us or anything, because we justdon't want them to get lazy in
that way.
But one of the things I dothink is so important and I talk
to my couples about this andthis is important in any aspect
of your marriage, but especiallyin your money.
(20:16):
People have money stories thatthey start when they're young,
whether it's that your parentstell you money doesn't grow on
trees, or you know we're poor,we don't have enough, or you
know, whatever it is, it's soimportant to be curious about
how the things that you feelreally strongly about and the
things that your spouse feelsreally strongly about, and so I
(20:38):
always recommend go on avacation and it doesn't have to
be fancy or expensive like go ona camping trip or go hiking
together or something, and getreally curious.
Like ask your spouse like when'sthe first time you knew, like
you had an inkling of how muchmoney you had in comparison to
your neighbors, or somethinglike that.
(20:59):
Or you know what's a really bigmoney lesson that your parents
either did or didn't teach youthat had an effect on you or
things like that.
And so you start to understandyour partner and their decisions
and you know kind of theirtriggers better when you get
really curious about how theygrew up and what they were
taught around money and how theykind of develop the ideas and
(21:22):
opinions that they hold so dear,and then you can have more
respect and honor better yourpartner.
Like I laugh, so I mean mywhole family laughs, because my
husband is very he feels verystrongly about the lights, right
, like he will get so upset ifyou leave a room and you don't
(21:42):
turn out the lights, right, Imean he'll just like it's like a
personal attack on him ifyou're not turning on the lights
.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Right, and we even have solar now and he's still
like don't leave that room, youknow, and not turn out the
lights or he'll come home andit'd be like I turned off four
lights when I got here, so funny.
But my husband grew up with alot less means than we did and
he has got a lot of storiesabout he and his siblings
(22:11):
sharing candy bars on a Saturdayand, you know, wearing the
goodwill clothes and his parentsnot taking handouts and things
like that.
So he has a very differentupbringing than I did, and so I
appreciate the fact that hevalues money, that he's good at
saving money.
He's also very good at makingmoney and so he's been able to
(22:32):
provide very well for our familybecause he works very hard.
But he's also a saver and soyou know, there were times in my
marriage where I'm like diggingin my heels, like you're not
going to die with your money.
Why are you being such a miser?
But I have grown to appreciatethat about him and I understand
it so much better now that Iknow his stories and his
(22:54):
upbringing and kind of where hecame from, so so important.
So I feel like I just got on asoapbox there.
But do you guys have anythingto add on that?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Definitely Money is such a psychological thing.
First, like, the numbers areblack and white, it's math,
right and so.
But the why behind it goes backto, like you just mentioned,
how were we raised?
What were, how did our parentstreat money?
How did they talk about moneyor not talk about money?
That drives a lot of how youwill do that as an adult and so,
(23:26):
and when you bring that into arelationship, a marriage, you
know two totally differentupbringings.
Like you know, that could besimilar.
There's going to be very a lotof differences.
And so having that openconversation, I think it's so
important as well as, yeah, wecan talk about you know how much
money I should save, how much Imake, all the black and white
spreadsheet stuff.
But if that doesn't matter, ifyou don't understand why you're
(23:55):
making the decisions that you'remaking and what's the emotional
uh pull behind that, and havingthat communication, having
those conversations, is reallywhat's going to help you work
through those things.
I know for us, you know,whether it's money or just
anything related to ourrelationship, early on
especially, we had lots ofdiscussions and lots of
questions about things and wedid it in a very like she said
no shame, blame or guilt.
We're just trying to get toknow each other, trying to
understand how each other thinkand why you respond this way
versus I respond this way, andso money, especially, is a very
(24:19):
key area to have thoseconversations, so definitely.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, and it's so fun to talk about money, but it's
kind of necessary.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I love what you said, monica, about like encouraging
couples, and how you doencourage couples to like get
away and change your environment, even just changing going for a
walk and talking about it.
I know you had a recent youknow podcast and talk about.
You know going on walks and howbeneficial that is.
But I feel like changing yourstate change.
You know incorporating movement, going on a weekend getaway and
(24:48):
and even having like a we'vedone this many times like a
vision for our life talk youknow what does that look like
and it's so easy, so much easierto do that when you're in a
different location, differentenvironment, and you have that
kind of relaxation you knowelement to to it.
So that's, that's huge.
I love that.
You encourage that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah.
So I think if there's like onetakeaway I could take from this
whole episode, I would say do alittle bit of like a mental
inventory and figure out, likehow are we doing with money as
far as like not like we haveenough money or whatever like
that.
But you know, do we understandeach other's philosophies behind
money and do we know what we'redoing with our money?
(25:26):
Do we have a plan for our money, kind of like you explained?
And if not, if you don't havelike these regular conversations
, regular planning meetingsabout your money, go on a
vacation or go on a walk andreally like figure it out, like
make a commitment to be like youknow we should probably get a
handle on this so that we're nothaving so many charged
(25:48):
conversations or fights aroundthis and just really like, let's
get on the same side and worktogether to make our money work
for us.
So let the listeners know howthey can get a hold of you, how
they can get you know the thefree resources that you talk
about and a free consultationfor their seven step thing or
(26:10):
whatever that you guys Sevenmoney milestones.
Seven money milestones.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, probably the easiest place to find us is just
at your cashflow couple onInstagram.
That'd be the best first placeif you want to learn more about
us just as a couple and there bea good place to start.
And then a website,howmoneyworkscom forward slash.
Nate Smith or Bethany Smith weboth have websites there.
That's a great place to go.
You can learn more about ourbooks and there's a lot of great
(26:34):
information education, likewhat are the seven money
milestones A lot of goodinformation there.
There's also options to book anappointment with us from that
website as well.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, we never charge for a consultation.
So sometimes just havingsomeone to talk to and getting
that map, getting that plan out,can be so helpful and so
beneficial.
I know it was for us almost sixyears ago now.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Awesome.
Well, thank you guys, so muchfor your time today and all your
expertise.
Any last words of wisdom forour couples who are interested
in money.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
No, just no.
Thank you so much, monica, forthe opportunity to share our
story and share some of thisinsight.
Biggest thing is just talkabout money opportunity to share
our story and share some ofthis insight.
Biggest thing is just just talkabout money and start talking
about it and uh, and, and thencreate and talk about it from a
point of what's, what's thevision we want to create for our
life and what do we want to doin the future.
Um, great place to start andhave those conversations about
where'd you come from, what,what do we, how, why do we think
(27:23):
, why do we think?
You get on the same page.
I think it's so valuable.
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